But isn’t the age of consent 18 in the US? How does that work?

Common misconception, but nope! The U.S. decided to leave that one up to the states, since apparently whether or not it’s okay to screw children depends on… what geographical coordinates within the U.S. you’re located in. It’s also separate from whether or not you can marry btw.

It also depends on a number of different factors in some jurisdictions. For example, the age of consent might be 18, but with exemptions for someone who’s 16 or older with someone who is within 2 years of their age. (e.g. a 16yo & 18yo, 17yo & 19yo)

It can also vary based on larger age gaps. For example, Washington has the age of consent at 16, but it can go up to 18 if the other person is more than 5 years older and other conditions are met.

Or, you could be like Iowa, who sets it at 16… but allows people 14-15yo to do it with someone up to 18 or 19yo respectively.

For marriage, sometimes it lines up with age of consent and sometimes it doesn’t.

For example, California sets the age of consent at 18, and any sexual activity with someone 18 regardless of your age (even if you are also under 18, or even the same age) is a crime… unless you’re married, which can be done at any age in the state, so long as there is parental consent and a judge says yes.

To be very transparent… I’m basically just paraphrasing from these two Wikipedia pages 😅

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_consent_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_marriage_in_the_United_States